Pentagon Bomb Squad’s Budget Slammed

Not too long ago, if a Congressman dared to withhold cash from the war effort — especially funds for fighting improvised bombs — he would’ve been blasted as a traitor. But the politics of Iraq and Afghanistan have shifted, in all sorts of ways. And so lawmakers now feel safe in taking a whack at the Pentagon’s controversial bomb-stopping group, the Joint Improvised Explosive
Device Defeat Organization, or JIEDDO. Inside Defensereports that the agency’s $500 million budget for next year has been slashed by about 75 percent, to $120 million, in Congress’ joint appropriations report.

Congress has been unhappy with the group all year. In the spring, Senate appropriators complained about JIEDDO’s "exponential growth" and Congress’ "limited visibility" into that expansion. Lawmakers required JIEDDO to submit a strategic plan to them by mid-August. The Pentagon says that the plan was handed in; Congress disagrees.

The Defense Department warned that, without the money, it wouldn’t be able to supply its new crop of explosive-resistant vehicles with the latest bomb-stopping jammers. Stop "undermining" JIEDDO, the Pentagon growled. In years past, that might’ve been enough to get Congressmen to change their minds. Not this time around.